Odyssey of an Octopus Junkie: A Dysfunctional Love Story

Ill-fated and quixotic love story of Phoenix, the tormented drug addict and talented artist, and Hannah, the pathologically co-dependent daughter of a Holocaust survivor, and their cross-country odyssey to liberate a giant octopus who may be psychically communicating with Hannah or may simply be her escapist delusion. Addiction is powerful. Will either be able to kick the habit? More

This 85,000 word literary novel that tells the ill-fated and quixotic love story of Phoenix Shannon, tormented drug addict and talented artist, and Hannah Lieberman, the pathologically co-dependent daughter of a Holocaust survivor. Hannah is drawn to Phoenix’s pathos and compelled to repeat her lifelong pattern of trying to rescue the terminally wounded. But Hannah underestimates the baffling and ruthless power of addiction, as well as her own destructive desire to be needed. After a year of nearly relentless insanity and devastation, Hannah's world is collapsing around her. When personal tragedy strikes Hannah's family, Phoenix, Hannah, and her recently widowed father, Thomas, embark on a cross-country road trip in a quest to liberate a giant octopus, who may be psychically pleading with Hannah to free him, or may simply be the fanciful creation of a desperate psyche. When events make it impossible for Hannah to continue denying how toxic Phoenix is for her, she does her best to let him go, while Phoenix struggles to stay sober and redeem himself. But both of their addictions are powerful, and it is unclear whether either will ever be able to kick the habit.

Tracey Winter Glover earned her BA in History from the University of Michigan and went on to obtain a JD from the University of Michigan Law School. After 8 years of practicing law in Washington D.C., she came to her senses and fled in search of a more purposeful life. She spent two months in Northern India reclaiming her soul before landing in Mobile, Alabama, where she is now living in a house with 15 rescued companion animals, teaching yoga, offering a range of vegan cooking services, running an animal rights group (www.arcforallbeings.org), and working on her first documentary, all with much gratitude.